As therapists, we know our role is to treat and return athletes as quickly as possible to their sport. With starting a new practice and doing some soul searching, we came to the conclusion that it is great to help athletes after they are injured, but what about helping prevent these injuries and their serious long-term implications altogether? This led us to doing research and developing an injury screening program to help identify those athletes at risk and train them in strategies for prevention. Below, I included exerts from one of many excellent research studies focusing on identification of athletes at risk for injury and training strategies for prevention. I feel this gives a great synopsis of the problem we are facing and where some of the research is taking us on prevention.
"Female athletes are currently reported to be 4 to 6 times more likely to sustain a sports related non-contact ACL injury than male athletes in comparable high-risk sports. The established links between lower limb mechanics and non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk led to the development of neuromuscular training interventions designed to prevent ACL injury by targeting deficits identified in specific populations. Injury prevention protocols have resulted in positive
preventative and biomechanical changes in female athletic populations at high risk for knee injury. There is evidence that neuromuscular training not only reduces the levels of potential biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury, but also decreases knee and ACL injury incidence in female athletes."
Information taken from: Myer et al "Trunk and Hip Control Neuromuscular Training for the Prevention of Knee Joint Injury" Clin Sports Med. 2008. July
Factors that contribute to lower body injury:
• Center of mass away from the foot (decreased trunk control)
• Knee abduction (ligament dominance)
• Low hip and knee flexion (quadriceps dominance)
• Single leg weight bearing (leg dominance)
Jumping/landing cues:
• Land with feet hip width
• Land soft with quiet impact (hip/knee flexion)
• Land with both feet at the same time and even weight distribution
• Land with an erect trunk
• Land on toes and absorb through mid-foot
• Perform each exercise with partner feedback for perfect technique
Soccer ACL injury videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHgu5e9K3Ww&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Mdm4v-ty8&feature=related
Basketball ACL injury videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1VLN2dlbV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAzUp_YLVIM
